The Hallows Games
by Emberflame of ForestClan
Summary: It's the seventy-fourth Hunger Games and this year, instead of 24 tributes, there are 32. Two from each of the twelve districts of Panem, and two from each of the four houses from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
1. The Reaping

**A/N: Warning characters are most likely OOC. I've never been all that good at keeping them true to their personalities. :T So this is a Harry Potter/Hunger Games fanfic. I will try my best to actually complete this one. xD**

Summary: It's the seventy-fourth Hunger Games and this year, instead of 24 tributes, there are 32. Two from each of the twelve districts of Panem, and two from each of the four houses from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Chapter 1

Katniss

When I got up that morning I never expected the chaos it would bring upon me, and my family—my little sister Primrose, and our mother. It had started out fine, well, as fine as things can be in District 12. I woke up before my mother and Prim, that morning. It was Reaping day, might as well let them sleep in as long as possible before having to face the horrors the day would bring.

I slipped out of my bed (which was actually more like a cot on the floor), and silently pulled on my clothes and shoes. I walked into the kitchen and saw the small wheel of goat cheese Prim had made for me from her goat, Lady's, milk. I grabbed my game bag and the cheese and slipped out the front door.

Everything was silent. Most people were probably in their beds asleep, or laying there dreading when they would have to get up. And since the Reaping began at two o'clock there was plenty of time kill before then. I ran past a few houses, and to the fence between the district and the woods. The fence's electricity was supposed to be on twenty-four/seven, but it rarely was. On the rare times when it was, my best friend, Gale, and I would sit in the woods and wait.

After going under the gap in the fence, I walked to my usual meeting place with Gale. He wasn't there, but only a few minutes later he walked up silently.

"Hey Catnip." He said.

I jumped a little. "Hey."

We grabbed our bows and arrows from the hollow tree nearby, and set out to check our snare line. When we had gotten to the last snare, we already had several rabbits and squirrels, from both the snares, and what had happened to cross our path. We divided the spoils, then set out back to the fence. On the way, I collected some strawberries to sell at the mayor's house.

Mayor Undersee's daughter, Madge, answered the door. She looked very different than she did at school, her hair was up in curls, tied back with a ribbon, she had on a white dress, and a gold pin was affixed just over her heart.

"Nice dress." Gale said.

She pursed her lips. "Well, if I go to the Capitol I want to look good don't I?"

Gale snorted. "Yeah, like _you'd _be the on going to the Capitol. You're name is in there, what? Five times?"

She looked offended. She handed him some cash and took the strawberries out of my hands. I could understand why he was annoyed by that. He and I had been much less privileged than some in District 12. We had been taking out Tesserae since we were twelve. Tesserae was when you agree to have your name put in more times (one for each member of your family), in exchange for grain and oil for a year. The slips were cumulative, and by the age of sixteen I had 21**(?)** and Gale, being eighteen, the final year of eligibility, had 42.

"I'll see you later." Gale said.

"Sure."

When I got home Prim and my mother were up. I filled a tub with water and took a bath. When I got out, I found my mother had laid out her blue dress for me. She offered to help me with my hair. Once she was done, and I was dressed, I looked nothing like myself.

Prim was standing in our small kitchen looking extremely small. I noticed the back of her shirt stuck out from her skirt, as did most of her other clothes, since they had been mine when I was twelve. Even several pins couldn't keep it tucked in for long.

"Tuck in your tail, little duck." I said, with a light laugh that only Prim can manage to get out of me.

"Quack." She giggled.

All too soon it was time to go to the square. It's unfortunate that that's where they hold the Reaping, since it's the most enjoyable place in District 12. Kids ages twelve to eighteen were enclosed two in roped-off areas, one for boys, and one for girls. I walked up near the front to where the sixteen-year-olds were.

Two of the three seats on the platform were filled with Mayor Undersee, and the Capitol escort, Effie Trinket. The third was empty, though everyone knew who was supposed to be there. Haymitch Abernathy, the only living victor from District 12. It was his job to mentor the subsequent tributes from the district. As if on cue, there he was, stumbling drunkenly up to the stage, just as the mayor finished telling us all about how Panem rose from the ashes of a continent called North America, and how twelve of the districts lost in a rebellion, and the thirteenth, obliterated. And thus, the Hunger Games began. Only, this year something different was going to take place. A school called "Hogwarts" was sending eight tributes this year.

Effie stepped up to the microphone, barely managing to avoid Haymitch, who was trying to give her a hug. "Well, another exciting Reaping day! Ladies first, ladies first!"

She walked over to the glass bowl containing the girls' names. She walked back to the microphone. I was hoping, hoping it wasn't me. It wasn't me. It was Primrose Everdeen.

I felt like I couldn't breathe, like my heart had stopped beating. I must've started to fall, but a boy caught me. Prim was making her way to the stage, preparing to face her certain death. I couldn't stand it. She would be killed, for sure. I practically ran up to her, pushing her behind me. "I volunteer!" I gasped. "I volunteer as tribute!"

"Well, there is the mater of announcing the tribute and asking for volunt—" Effie said.

"What's the point?" Mayor Undersee said. "Let the girl come up."

I started to walk forward but Prim grabbed onto me.

"No! Katniss, no! You can't go!"

"Prim, let go," I choked out.

She let go. I turned back to see that Gale had pulled her off me. "Go on, Catnip," he said.

Once I was up there, Effie put the microphone in front of me. "What's your name, dear?"

"Katniss Everdeen."

"Well, I'll bet my buttons that was your sister. Wouldn't want her to get all the glory?"

I suddenly wanted to punch her. By the time I'd even had time to think of that she was coming back with the boy's slip in her hand. She read out the name.

"Peeta Mellark."

_Oh no, why him? _I thought. _Why couldn't it have been any other boy? Instead of one, I owe my life to…_

Peeta came up. Effie said our names once more, we shook hands, and we were whisked away to the justice building.

Harry

When I woke up that morning, I almost didn't realize what day it was. The Reaping. I had no idea why we were being forced into an idiotic fight to the death. It was crazy. And we weren't even allowed our wands! Doubly crazy! Though, I supposed we simply _couldn't _let the muggles know about magic.

I grabbed my glasses, and looked over at Ron. He was snoring like a chainsaw. I walked over to him, and nudged him. No response. I nudged him harder. His hand came up, hitting me right on the nose.

"Oi!" I snapped.

"Bloody 'ell, 'arry," he muttered, still out of it. "Gerroff."

"Get up. If you don't you'll miss breakfast."

That got him up and moving. I sighed. Ron, the eternally hungry wizard. Once we were dressed, we went down and met Hermione in the common room.

She looked up from her book and said, "Took you long enough. Lucky, I had my book to pass the time."

"When does she _not _have a book?" Ron muttered.

I barely stopped myself from laughing.

Once everyone was in the Great Hall, and they had all finished eating, Dumbledore stood and gave the announcement that I'm sure everyone was dreading.

"Well, students. It is time, for each name to be put into the Goblet of Fire. And at three o'clock this afternoon, eight names will be drawn, one boy and one girl from each house. Only the names of second years and above will be put in."

First years cheered, everyone else groaned. I glanced down the table at Ginny. She was scowling into her empty bowl of oatmeal. She was obviously unhappy with the games, as was the rest of the school. I decided I'd pull her aside after breakfast. I needed to talk to her. I needed to tell her how I felt.

"Harry? What are you smiling about?" Hermione asked me.

"Wha-? I was smiling? Oh…"

"You're not very good at hiding your feelings, Harry," Hermione whispered, low enough so that only I could hear. I shrugged.

Once we were back in the common room, it was _Ginn_y who found _me_. "We need to talk," she whispered as she pulled me into an empty corner.

"What?"

"I have to tell you something."

But it wasn't so much _telling _as _showing_. Because before I could say anything, she kissed me. I could feel every head turning toward us, and I could practically see Ron's face turning bright red with anger. It was quite a funny picture actually.

When we broke apart and looked at everyone in the room, sure enough, everyone was staring with their mouths open. Well, everyone except Hermione, who was grinning knowingly. Ron's was red, just as I'd predicted, but he gave a small nod as though saying, "_Well, if you must._"

I resisted the urge to pump my fist in the air, it just wouldn't have been appropriate. I looked back at Ginny, she was smiling. She quickly kissed my cheek, and then walked off, probably to go to see Luna in the Ravenclaw common room. I walked over to Ron and Hermione, grinning like an idiot.

Ron simply shook his head. "I can't believe you just snogged my sister."

Hermione hit him with her book. "Be happy for him, will you?"

He still looked angry, but he didn't say anything else. Hermione just smiled.

When we were all gathered in the Great Hall, Dumbledore started to speak. "Welcome, students, to the first annual Reaping for the Hunger Games."

"Damn," Ginny muttered to me. "That means we have to do this next year, too."

"The tributes for Hufflepuff are…" two pieces of parchment fluttered out of the goblet. He caught them, flattened them out and said, "Hannah Abbott, and Cedric Diggory."

The goblet had interesting taste in tributes. They walked up, shook hands with their head of house, then walked through a side door.

"And for Ravenclaw…Cho Chang and Michael Corner."

Hmm…Cho and Michael… They went up, and followed Hannah and Cedric through the door.

"And for Slytherin…Pansy Parkinson and Draco Malfoy."

Ugh. Malfoy and Pansy. They followed the others before them.

"And last but not least, for Gryffindor…Ginny Weasley and Harry Potter."

On our names, everyone froze. Ginny looked like she was barely holding back tears, I couldn't blame her. I squeezed her hand, and led her up to where McGonagall was waiting. She looked truly upset that we were picked. We shook her hand, then headed through the door.

**A/N: Sorry that Harry's POV was so much shorter than Katniss's. And I know, in Katniss's POV I skipped some details but then it would be like…a billion pages long. xD **


	2. The Goodbye

**A/N: This will mostly be in Katniss's and Harry's POV's but sometimes Ginny's. I'm not sure if I'll do it in Peeta's POV, but if anybody wants me to, I'll try it.**

Chapter 2

Katniss

Peeta and I were placed into separate rooms, so we could say goodbye to our families. Of course, Prim and my mother were the first to come in. Prim climbed on my lap and put her arms around my neck, just like she used to when she was smaller.

After a minute of silence, she said, "Promise you'll win, Katniss. For me, please."

"I…I will, Prim. Promise."

I could feel her sobbing into my shoulder. Until then our mother had just been staring at us.

"Promise me this," I said. "Don't leave her alone. You have to stay here, for her."

"I was sick. I didn't have the medicines I have now," she muttered, looking down at the carpet.

"Then take them! Just promise me…please."

"I promise."

She put her arms around us. We just kept hugging and crying until a Peacekeeper came in and told them to leave. They left as slowly as they could, with many 'I love you's.

What surprised me was that, this girl I barely knew, was coming to say goodbye to me.

"Madge?" I asked.

"Wear this." She said, handing me the pin she was wearing earlier. I took one look at it and I realized it was a Mockingjay inside a thin circle of gold.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course. Promise me you'll wear it into the arena."

"Sure."

She quickly kissed my cheek, then left.

But I received a real shock when the baker, Peeta's father, walked in, holding a small bundle. He sat silently for a moment before he said, "Here."

I opened the paper. Inside were cookies, a luxury for me. I was getting all kinds of gifts, now that I was probably going to die.

"Thank you."

After another uncomfortable silence he said, "I'll make sure the little girl eats."

"Thank you," I said, feeling the weight lift off my shoulders.

He stood, and left.

When the next person came in, I smiled.

"Gale," I said.

He opened his arms. I didn't hesitate to go into them. For a minute we just stood there, hugging.

"Whatever you do, don't let them starve," I managed to choke out.

"I won't Catnip. There's not always a bow and arrow. Make sure they know your talent, then they'll be sure to have one in the cornucopia. Just remember—"

Just then a Peacekeeper walked in, announcing my one hour was up. They had to drag Gale out of room, and I never got to know what he said.

Peeta and I were once again escorted by Peacekeepers, but this time it was to the train station. It was obvious Peeta had been crying, his eyes were extremely red and puffy.

Effie and Haymitch were already waiting on the platform. Once we were inside the train, and the doors closed, we were off to the Capitol.

Ginny

I gripped Harry's hand so tight that when I finally let go, his hand was practically pure white.

"Sorry," I muttered.

"S'okay," He said.

Dumbledore walked in a moment later. "Well, I wish we were meeting here on more friendly circumstances," he said, sadly. "But, you each have one hour with your friends and family."

"How will our families get here?" Draco asked, raising his eyebrow.

"We have lifted the apparition ban for the hour, your friends and family that are not here, have been contacted and will arrive shortly. Until then, I will show you to the visiting rooms."

We were all sent into different rooms, where our families would come and say goodbye—and for at least 7 of us—forever.

I was sitting in the room, bawling, until there was a quiet knock on the door. It opened, and my mother and father were there. My mother rushed over and crushed me in a giant bear hug.

"Mum," I managed to gasp. "Can't…breathe…"

She let go. "Sorry sweetie, it's just…" she started crying. Dad had to pull her out of the room.

Fred and George walked in next.

"Well," Fred started.

"Mum's a riot, huh?" George finished.

"Yep," I said.

"Listen sis," Fred said. "Whatever happens, get out of there immediately."

"Yeah." George agreed. "And Dumbledore told us you're allowed one item, non magical of course, so we thought you'd like this."

Fred pulled out a gold necklace from his pocket. It wasn't just a regular necklace though, it had a broomstick on it. They smiled simultaneously.

"Thanks," I managed to say, without crying.

"No, problem sis." They grinned.

"Is there anyone else out there?"

"Unfortunately, not from home. Bill and Charlie are away, and Percy…well.." Fred said.

"Little prat." George muttered.

"Oh."

"But Hermione and Ron and Luna are out there." Fred said.

"We'd better go, in order to give them _some _time."

"Later," they said, and disapparated with a _pop!_

Ron, Hermione, and Luna all came in at once. They hugged me, promised me I would be okay, I'd make it. I wasn't so sure.

Harry

Unfortunately or fortunately, the hour went pretty quickly, since I had quite a few people to come visit me. Ron, Hermione, maybe Luna, probably Lupin and Tonks, and Sirius.

The door opened and Sirius and Lupin and Tonks walked in.

"Wotcher, Harry," Tonks said, giving me a hug.

"Hey Tonks. Sirius, Lupin, long time."

Sirius smiled. "Wish it was under more pleasant circumstances."

"Yeah," I said. "Me too."

"I got this for you, Harry," Lupin said, handing me a snitch.

"What's this for?"

"Your token. You're allowed one non-magical item in the arena with you."

"Oh. Thanks."

There was a knock on the door. Ron stuck his head in. "Oh, it's full in here. We'll, uh, be outside." His head disappeared outside the door again.

"Well, Harry. We'd better go, best not make your friends wait too long." Tonks said.

I let them leave, without saying a word. Ron, Hermione, Luna, and, surprisingly, Neville, all showed up.

"You're very popular Harry," Luna said, dreamily.

"Yeah, very popular," Ron muttered.

Hermione elbowed him. "Ron! Be nice! For all we know, he could get killed!"

"Thanks, 'Mione."

"Sorry Harry, I didn't mean…ugh. I'm sorry I just don't know what to say."

Unfortunately, Dumbledore walked in right then and ushered them out.

"Bye guys," I said.

"Bye Harry," they all said.


	3. The Preps

**A/N: I am on a roll here! Lol three chapters in less than 24 hours. Okay, I've decided that, until the actual Games begin, it's going to be Peeta's POV. Katniss's will be like it was in the book until then ;) **

Chapter 3

Ginny

"How will we get there?" Harry asked, when we were all gathered around again.

"Portkey, my dear boy, Portkey," Dumbledore said.

He pulled out an old hat, and held it out toward us. We each grabbed onto it somewhere. There was jerk from behind, and we were being whisked through the air, everything blurring around us.

Everyone except Dumbledore fell flat on our faces. He was trying to hold back a smile. We picked ourselves up and looked around. That hallway was empty, except for the occasional picture, which I was surprised to find out, didn't actually move. Though, we were dealing with muggles, here.

"Okay, each of you will have your own stylist and prep team to get you ready for, not just tonight, but also your interviews in one week's time."

He gave us our assigned room numbers, and we all went separate ways. I glanced back at Harry, who had stayed behind to talk to Dumbledore about something. He nodded. I went into the room, where three very freaky-looking people were waiting.

I gritted my teeth as hair was ripped from every inch of my body, leaving only the hair on my head. I'd plucked, waxed, and scrubbed with lotion; until it stung so badly I could barely stand it. Carcenella, Paloma, and Lazaro were a little too friendly, chatting non-stop as they were causing me extreme pain.

Finally, after I'd been soaked in several foul-smelling concoctions, they left me alone in the room, telling me, "Jovanni will be in soon." Ugh. The weird names they give their kids here. Though, I supposed to them 'Ginevra' or 'Ginny' was weird. I pulled on the paper robe and waited for this Jovanni to come in.

He was probably the least crazy-looking person I'd met there, since his skin wasn't some weird color, he didn't have any tattoos or anything either. The one thing he _did _have was frighteningly bright silver lips. I had no idea if it was lipstick or if he had dyed them , but either way they were pretty freaky.

After a bit of small talk ("What do you think about the Capitol?" and "Are you nervous?") he showed me the outfit I'd be wearing on the chariot ride around the square. It was a red body suit with a bit of gold dust that would glow as soon as it got dark. It was simply amazing.

Harry

Of course, when I turned to look at Ginny, Dumbledore took advantage and left.

"Damn," I muttered along with a few other choice words.

I went into the "prep room" as Dumbledore had called it. As soon as I got in there, the prep team ordered me to take off all my clothes (which was, frankly, very embarrassing, as two of them were girls). I ended up sitting in a bath of some sort, having my face waxed. The whole experience was a nightmare, down the very clothes they wore.

The women, Eboni and Mya, both had had their skin dyed these horribly hideous colors of blue and pink, several gold and silver tattoos, and their hair…don't even get me started. At least Dennon wasn't so bad, well, his skin wasn't dyed anyway.

I was rubbed down with oils, and lotions, and other things I couldn't even tell you the _names _of. It was rather unpleasant. I wanted to punch them in mouths pretty much every other second, just to shut them up.

"Hey!" I snapped.

They had been talking about the Hogwarts tributes and they had gotten to Ginny. As soon as they said her teeth looked awfully crooked and her hair looked stupid I had actually punched Dennon, who had said those things.

"Well, well, touchy, touchy." He muttered, massaging his jaw.

I closed my eyes. "Don't talk about her like that," I said, gritting my teeth.

"Girlfriend?" Mya asked, clearly afraid I'd punch her, too.

I opened my eyes and sighed, sinking father into the bath. "Yeah."

"That's unfortunate," Eboni said.

"Tell me about it."

They stayed silent the rest of the time, until the left. I was left sitting in the room, wearing only a towel while I waited for the stylist, Tigris.

She was even more freaky-looking than the prep team, which I didn't think was possible until she walked in. Her face looked cat-like. She had whiskers, gold and black stripes, and even a tail. Perfect example of what happens when you go too far to look like your cat.

Without saying a word, she pulled out the red body suit.

Peeta

My prep team was hovering around me, trying to decide what to do first, because, apparently, everything was wrong with how I looked. It was pretty embarrassing standing stark naked in front of people I barely even know the names of.

After a minute I was sat down on a chair while they filed down all my nails and waxed my face. It was probably my worst experience with them. The hot wax hurt enough by itself, but when they ripped off the paper, I had to bite my tongue to keep from screaming bloody murder.

It wasn't fair that we had to go through all this pain before we were actually in the arena. I mean, wasn't it bad enough we'd have to go through dying? No, I suppose not. I was sure, at that moment someone was watching, laughing at my discomfort with the whole situation.

They were talking non-stop about some tributes named 'Harry Potter' and 'Ginny Weasley' that were apparently from the school 'Hogwarts'. And apparently, they were together. So they were in the same boat I was in with Katniss. So close, but so desperately far. Who knows, maybe they'll end up the last two and have to kill each other…

_Or maybe Katniss and I will… _I thought. I quickly dismissed it. No matter what, Katniss would at least make it farther than I will. She has to.

Genesis was snapping her finger in front of my face. I shook my head and looked at her. Turns out she was trying to get me into this awful bath, with some sticky, slimy…_substance _in it. I almost gagged on the smell, which wasn't much better than how it felt.

When they finally left, the stylist, Portia, came in immediately.

"Hello, Peeta." She said, sweetly. I immediately liked her.

"Um, hello." Very smart, I know.

"We may as well get into the details about the costume.

She explained to me that the once I put on the jumpsuit, and I was at the chariot with Katniss, her stylist, Cinna, would set on fire.

"Fire?" I freaked out. I'd gotten burned at the bakery before, but that didn't mean I didn't want to be burned alive.

"Don't worry, it's _synthetic _fire. You may feel a slight tickling sensation, but you won't get burned."

Somehow, I didn't trust her.


	4. The Chariots

**A/N: Okay, people. Review. Please. Okay, I know this one is kind of short, but I've been delaying on working on it, so I wanted to get it up ASAP, so it's only in Harry and Ginny's points of views.**

Ginny

When I got to the chariot, Harry was there waiting for me. He looked great. I mean, he didn't look much different, but in that red suit—_Stop it! _I thought. _In a week, you'll be thrown into an arena where you might be forced to kill him! _Of course, the irrational part of my brain fired back. _Then why did you kiss him, knowing that at least one of you would probably be picked?_

I still couldn't quite face that fact. Why _had _I kissed him? I was being stupid, that's why. Deluding myself, when I knew there was almost no doubt he'd be picked. I just hadn't known I'd be going too.

Harry held out his hand. I took it gratefully. I didn't quite trust myself not to fall and kill myself before the games even began. Though, maybe that'd be for the best…no. Not for Harry. That would probably make him sad and he'd do something stupid and get himself killed right away.

I looked at the rest of the chariots. I could barely keep myself from laughing at the Hufflepuffs' clothes—badger suits. And the Ravenclaws' book clothes? Ha. The Slytherin chariot, was a little, er, revealing in their clothes, or lack thereof, as they were covered in only silver paint and had snakes around their shoulders. I looked away. I had never wanted to see _that much _of Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson. In fact, I'd never really wanted to see them at all.

The chariot just in front of us was amazing. A girl with black hair, and a guy with blonde hair were standing there and a man with a torch was smiling. In a moment the girl and boy were both on fire. I realized the man with the torch must've been one of their stylists. As they rolled out from the building, the man raised his hands, his fingers linked together. The girl said something, and she grabbed the boy's hand.

Harry must've noticed, too as he squeezed my hand tighter. "We're going in this together." He said.

"Together." I agreed, as our chariot began moving.

The crowds of people just made me mad. They were staring at us like were unicorns or something. I wished I'd had my wand; I'd have cursed them all into oblivion. My eyes started hurting from some bright light. Then, I realized it was my and Harry's suits.

He was smiling. "This is awesome," he said.

People were calling our names, along with others, who I guessed were from the chariot in front of us. I also heard some whistles that-I'll hazard a wild guess- were directed at Malfoy and Pansy.

I looked over at the chariot in front of us. They were smiling and waving, and the girl was blowing kisses to people. I thought it was a good strategy, trying to be nice. So I just waved a little and smiled. Harry was smiling so wide I'm surprised his face didn't freeze that way.

Once we got off, it took some effort to get our hands moving again, as they'd gone completely numb while on the chariot. McGonagall walked up, and congratulated us on our performance.

"Professor McGonagall, what are you doing here?"

"Classes ended several hours ago, and I saw how you did, so I wanted to come and congratulate you personally."

We thanked her, and then we went to the elevators that would take us to our rooms. Unfortunately, Harry and I ended up in the elevator with the Slytherins.

"Is this making you uncomfortable, Red?" Draco asked, getting closer to me.

"Shut up, Malfoy, or I'll punch you." I muttered, my teeth gritted.

"Don't be so modest," he said, getting closer.

And then I did it. I punched him, square in the mouth, and when the elevator opened on the Gryffindor floor, I got out silently.

Harry 

When I got to the chariot, all of the kids from Panem were in their chariots, but I was one of the first from Hogwarts. The Gryffindor chariot was right after the twelfth from Panem. Draco and Pansy were the only other ones from Hogwarts that were there. I looked away immediately. I'd never wanted to see either one of them _with _their clothes on. Ugh.

I stepped onto the gold chariot. When I looked over at the elevator, Ginny was just coming out. She looked amazing. The red suit fit her perfectly. _Stop, Harry. _I scolded myself. _You're being thrown into an arena in a week, when you might have to kill her. _

She smiled at me. I held out my hand, and she grabbed it tightly. At least I knew neither of us would fall off. Suddenly, I saw something very bright, on the chariot in front of us. At first, I thought the chariot itself had somehow caught fire. Then I realized it was the kids on it. Their clothes were on fire. It was amazing.

As they rolled out of the building, a man—who I guessed was on of their stylists—held up his hands, locking his fingers together. The boy looked confused, but the girl figured it out, and grabbed his hand. I looked back at Ginny and squeezed her hand tighter.

"We'll go into this together," I said.

"Together," she agreed.

As we rolled out of the building I suddenly realized it was freezing. Couldn't they have made the suits just a _bit _thicker? Ugh. At least Ginny didn't seem to be cold. She looked like she was going to punch someone. I hoped it would be Malfoy.

The reflections off our suits were so bright it hurt my eyes. But people were chanting our names, along with others, which I could barely make out to be Katniss and Peeta. I smiled, so much my cheeks hurt.

I couldn't help but glance at the giant screens all around the square. Ginny and I, and Katniss and Peeta, got much more than our fair share of screen time. The cameras kept focusing on us, as it got so dark you could barely see anything else.

Once the chariot was back in the building, Ginny let go of my hand. It took several minutes of rubbing our stiff fingers to get them working right again. After a minute McGonagall came up and congratulated us.

When Ginny asked why she was there, she said, "Classes ended several hours ago, and I saw how you did, so I wanted to come and congratulate you personally."

We thanked her, nicely, and then went to the elevator. When I saw we were in with the Slytherins I almost walked back out to wait for the next one. And when Draco started getting close to Ginny, I wanted to punch him. But Ginny wouldn't appreciate it. "I fight my own battles, thank you!" She'd say. I couldn't resist smiling when she finally punched him, right in the mouth. When she walked out, I could help but admire her nerve. It was something a lot of girls didn't have.

I followed her to her room. She turned around, and looked at me.

"Harry," she said, quietly.

I smiled a little. "Did you know I was following you?"

"How could I not? You sounded like an elephant."

I started to walk away. She grabbed my arm. I smiled, and kissed her. And I knew our last week together would go by too quickly.

**A/N: Okay, sorry it took so long. I kept procrastinating, then I had writer's block, and then I kept getting interrupted. Dx But FINALLY I finished. :D**


	5. The Scores

**A/N: This one takes place on the day of the private sessions with the Gamemakers. The time in between would've be kind of boring. And then it goes to the next day when they're preparing for their interviews. The interviews themselves will be in the next chapter. :)**

Peeta

"Do you know what you're going to do?" Katniss asked me.

"No, I'll probably paint myself into a tree or something, though."

"Well, um, don't forget to throw the weights."

"Yeah. Shoot straight."

Someone called my name. I got up, and walked through the door, feeling more nervous than I did when my name was called at the reaping. As soon as I walked in, I knew this wasn't going to end well. It was obvious they'd all had a bit too much to drink.

I immediately went over to the weights. I was stronger than most of the guys at my school, so I was pretty confident. As soon as started throwing them into different areas of the room, they started singing. Some weird song, that, of what I actually understood, had to do with drinking. Ugh.

I gave up on the weights. I walked over to the camouflage station. It was clear nobody had used it; all of the lids were still screwed on very, very tightly. I managed to get the lid off the brown. I just started painting swirls on my arm, like mud. After what seemed like a few minutes they dismissed me. I rolled my eyes, and grabbed a towel to wipe off my arm. I went to the elevator and got in.

"I shot and arrow at the Gamemakers," Katniss confessed.

Effie gasped. "Why would you do such a thing?" she asked, obviously repulsed by Katniss's lack of manners.

"They weren't paying attention to me. So I shot an arrow at them. "Well, actually I shot at the apple in their stupid dead pig's mouth."

Once we were all gathered around the television, Effie turned it on to see the training scores. The careers did well, of course, all of them scoring eights and nines. The rest got around fives and sixes, except little Rue, who surprisingly pulled a seven. I somehow managed to get an eight, when Katniss picture and score comes up she completely freezes. She got an eleven.

"Why did they do that?" She asked quietly.

"They're marking you as a target, sweetheart."

She got up and left.

* * *

><p>"Okay, so here's how we're going to do this," Haymitch said. "I'm here to help you figure out an angle, and then you go off on your merry way."<p>

"I figured as much," I muttered. He was even more annoying when he was sober. "So, I was thinking.."

"Hm?"

"I've got an idea of something I can use as an angle. Katniss."

"What about her?"

He was oblivious. "Well, I…love her."

"Hmm…could be good. But you still need more. "

After hours of trying to figure out what the angle should be, he finally said, "Ya know what? Just be yourself. I don't really give a damn anymore."

I could tell he wanted to drink, but didn't want to be flat-out drunk when he was working with Katniss. It wasn't long after we went into the other room for lunch when Katniss stomped in, in a very long dress, and no shoes on. She looked angry. Her session with Effie obviously didn't go well.

Once we were done eating, Effie dragged me out for my session with her. She just kept complimenting me on how I was doing everything right, which I couldn't understand, because when I first sat down she said I was doing everything wrong. She was so unpredictable, but my future in the Games depended on how well I did in my interview.

Harry

Ginny and I sat uncomfortably on the bench, waiting to go in. We were right after the District 12 kids.

"Do you know what you're going to do?" she asked.

"Not a clue. Are you going to try the bow and arrows?"

"Mmm, I'm not sure. I think I hit those targets accidentally."

Of course. We were going in, not having a clue as to what we were going to do, and when it's _this _important, that's not exactly a good thing.

When they called me in, I stood up, forcing myself to let go of Ginny's hand. When I went in there, I knew it would not be fun. They looked pretty pissed off. One of the guys looked like he was ready to kill someone, and it also looked like he peed his pants. I just went over to the swords. I grabbed one.

I slashed at the dummy, covering it in "blood" (I don't know what it was that was making it red, but it was obviously there for a reason). After a few minutes, the dummy was soaked through. I stopped a minute to wipe my face. They dismissed me. I don't know what I was thinking, but as I walked toward the elevator, I threw the sword behind me. It ended up sticking in the dummy, making me look a whole lot better than I was.

Once Ginny was upstairs in the room, I ambushed her.

"So, what did you do?" I asked.

"I shot some arrows."

"Did you hit any targets?"

"Some," she admitted. "Okay, I hit them all. And I threw some knives. I was horrible."

I laughed. When we sat down on the couch, I turned on the television. She frowned. "What's that?"

"You've seen moving pictures…but you've never seen a television?"

She frowned even more. "I'm not a muggle, or muggle-born, nor do I live with muggles."

"Lucky for you, I lived with them, and I know how to work this." I looked at the many buttons on the remote. "Well, at least I know how to turn it on and off."

We had almost missed the training scores. The boy from District 12, Peeta, got an eight, and the girl, Katniss, got an eleven. My picture came up with a number ten on it. Ten! Whoa. Before I could say anything out loud, Ginny's picture came up with an eleven.

"Whoa." She said. "I can't believe I got an eleven."

"I can believe you got an eleven, but I got a ten? What?"

She shrugged, but leaned up and kissed me.

* * *

><p>Dumbledore and McGonagall had apparated from school to help us get prepared for our interviews. Dumbledore wasn't much help, which was unlike him. He just said, "Be yourself." which was the only helpful thing he said to me. I had no idea why he was being so cold, but he didn't seem anxious to let me know why.<p>

McGonagall was better. Much friendlier. She gave me actual advice, how to act so I don't make a fool of myself on live television. That would be a nightmare. I hoped Ginny's time with Dumbledore was going better than mine had…

Ginny

It was about half an hour after Harry left that I was called in. I was glad I didn't have to spend anymore time with Draco and Pansy, being total asses. Some of the Gamemakers were paying attention, though most were paying attention to the pig they were going to eat.

I immediately headed for the archery station. I found the farthest target, and I shot at it. Predictably, I missed. I tried again. Bull's-eye. Again and again. Maybe Harry was right, I did have talent. I took several steps back, hitting it, again and again.

They told me I could go. I shot one last arrow, hitting a glass on their table, and then I threw the bow and arrow on the ground, and went into the elevator. As soon as I got out of the elevator Harry hounded me with questions. What did I do? Did I do well? What did I hope to get?

We sat on the couch, and I leaned on him. I wasn't anxious to know my score. Well, maybe a little. He grabbed something and pressed a button on it. I screen on the wall turned on, with a picture of the girl from District 11.

"What's that?" I frowned. I wasn't good with muggle technology.

"You've seen moving pictures…but you've never seen a television?"

I frowned even more. "I'm not a muggle, or muggle-born, nor do I live with muggles."

"Lucky for you, I lived with them, and I know how to work this. Well, at least I know how to turn it on and off."

The girl from 12 got an eleven, and the boy got an eight. Not bad. Harry's picture popped up with a ten. I smiled. He did better than I thought. I mean, I didn't expect him to get a three or anywhere that low, but I didn't expect a ten. And I sure didn't expect my score.

When my picture showed with eleven, I almost screamed. How could I have gotten so high? I'd even shot at them! Well, the glass, but whatever.

"Whoa." I said. "I can't believe I got an eleven."

"I can believe you got an eleven, but I got a ten? What?"

I shrugged, and leaned up and kissed him.

* * *

><p>McGonagall was nice. She was really trying her best to help me. And let me tell you, I was not easy to put up with. It was hard for me to "sit like a lady". Apparently, I kept slouching. And scowling. And fidgeting too much. I was glad when it was time for lunch.<p>

Harry was barely picking at his food. He looked anxious to get away from that able. Lucky for him, once he was done eating he went in with McGonagall. I had to spend the rest of the day with Dumbledore.

It was pretty boring. He asked short, two or three word questions, I answered, then it started over again. Finally, he said. "I think that's enough, Ginevra. Good luck." And he left.

I was shocked that he was so cold. And that he'd called me Ginevra. Only my aunt Muriel called me that. I sighed. Tomorrow night would be very long.

**A/N: Okay, so I got in trouble. Yeah, so I took a risk coming on to finish and post this. It might be a little while until I get the next chapter up. Sorry. :T **


	6. The Interviews

**A/N: Whooo comments! :D And pretty much all of Peeta's POV is from the books, except you know, in his POV but I wanted to do it anyway. xD**

**Wildwolfwind48: No, they can't use magic. Then the muggles would know they're wizards. ;)**

Peeta

I admit it; I was sweating so much I was surprised that it didn't show. Katniss looked great in her dress, as I expected. Giggling? That was new, but it was nice, a girlier side of her. Before I knew it, Caeser was calling me up. I quickly wiped my hand off before I grabbed his.

It was easier than I thought, striking up an easy conversation quickly. I played up the whole baker's son thing, comparing district tributes to their bread. Somehow we got around to talking about the showers.

"Do I still smell like roses?" I asked.

And we took turns sniffing each other, which made everyone burst out laughing. After a moment he got to the question I was hoping would come up.

"Do you have a girlfriend back home?"

I hesitated then shook my head.

"Handsome lad like you. There must be some special girl. Come on, what's her name?

I sighed. "Well, there is this once girl. I've had a crush on her ever since I can remember," I admitted. "But I'm pretty sure she didn't know I was alive until the reaping."

"She have another fellow?" he asked, looking truly upset for me.

"I don't know, but a lot of boys like her," I said.

"So here's what you do. You win, you go home. She can't turn you down then, eh?" he said, encouragingly.

"I don't think that's going to work out. Winning…won't help in my case."

"Why ever not?" he asked, clearly confused.

I could feel my skin burning. "Because…because…she came here with me."

I could just feel every camera turned on my face, as I looked down at my shoes. When I do look up, the cameras are all on Katniss, her mouth open, shocked. She closes her mouth and looks down, avoiding the cameras.

"Oh, that is a piece of bad luck," he said, seeming genuinely sorry for me.

"It's not good," I agreed.

"Well, I don't think any of us can blame you. It'd be hard not to fall for that young lady," he said. "She didn't know?"

I shook my head. "Not until now. 

The cameras are still fixed on Katniss. Her eyes dart up to the screen for a second, then quickly go back down to the floor.

"Wouldn't you love to pull her back out here and get a response?" he asked the audience. "Sadly, rules are rules and Katniss Everdeen's time has been spent. Well, best of luck to you, Peeta Mellark, and I think I speak for all of Panem when I say our hearts go with yours."

The crowd almost deafens me, they were so loud. When the audience is silent I manage to choke out "Thank you." And go back to my seat next Katniss. The girl, Ginny walks up, but I pay no attention to anyone after me. I simply looked down at my feet.

Ginny

He was in love with her? Well, then. That makes two pairs of us. Great. My name was called. I stood up and walked over to him. I somehow managed not to trip on my dress, which was a miracle. Wouldn't want to ruin my stylist's hard work…or my face. The dress was beautiful, the colors fading from gold at the top, to deep scarlet at the bottom. But I still think they went a bit too far to incorporate our house colors into our clothes.

"How are you liking the Capitol?"

What? What did he say? It was like I heard the words, but didn't know what he was saying. "It's…It's beautiful." I managed to choke out.

"Before you were reaped what did you think?"

What did I think? "Well, uh, I was just thinking, 'Well, I hope it's not me.'"

He laughed. Okay, that made me feel a bit better. I normally wasn't nervous, but being in front of this many people was definitely nerve-wrecking.

"Tell us about your family."

No. You're taking everything away from me already. "I have six older brothers." I could just tell Ron was smiling at being mentioned.

"Must've been hard. Now, down to the question on everyone's mind. A pretty girl like you must have a boy back home."

Crap. I hoped he wouldn't ask that. I glanced back at Harry. He looked as nervous as I was. No. No. No, I'm not telling you. No, "Um, well…" I glanced back at Harry. I was turning bright red, and I knew it.

He followed where I was looking. He must've realized. Damn. "Oh, such bad luck this year."

The buzzer went off. "Well, best of luck to you, Ginny Weasley."

I went back to my seat, desperately trying to avoid looking up at Harry. I felt someone's hand on my knee. It was the boy's—Peeta's. He smiled as though saying "Well, we're both screwed, here."

Harry

After having managed to sit through a whole twenty-five interviews, I thought mine would be easy. Was it? No, of course not, should've known as much. Hit me with complicated questions right off the bat.

"Do you have family back home waiting for you?"

"Well, no, unless you count my friends."

"No parents?"

Great. I knew this would come up. "No, they died in a car crash when I was young."

At least he moved on to something else. "So, you and Ginny…?" Okay, never mind that's actually worse. More…personal. Ginny hid her face in her hands. I wished I could do the same.

"Uh…yeah." Stupid, that's what I am, plain stupid.

"Yes, very unfortunate." He sounded tired, though I suppose interviewing 25 kids could do that to you. And there were still 7 left.

It got silent for a few seconds, so I used a really stupid joke. He laughed anyway. And I felt like an idiot again.

**A/N: My god, this one's short. The next will be longer. I promise.**


	7. The Games

**A/N: Okay, finally getting into the good and exciting parts. xD**

Harry

Of course once I was done, I had to sit through 8 more interviews. But once they were done, the audience done applauding, Caeser telling everyone to tune in for the Games tomorrow afternoon at one, we were able to leave.

In the elevator, at least we weren't with the Slytherins. But, Peeta was the only other one in there. Ginny pressed the button, and stared at the numbers, obviously wanting to get out of there as soon as possible.

"So, interesting interviews, huh?" Peeta asked.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah." Ginny said.

"Very," I mumbled.

"Normally, I'd be mad if somebody said this to me, but, that's really bad about you two."

Okay, now I know why Ginny was so anxious to get off. "Yeah."

We were all silent for a moment, before the doors opened on the 12th floor.

"Well…see you in the arena," Peeta said, bitterly. He walked out and the doors closed quickly behind him.

"Well, that was…unpleasant." I said.

"Yeah."

I went with her to her room. "Well…tonight might be the last time we're not supposed to be enemies…" I said quietly.

She looked sad. "I'll never be your enemy." She whispered the words so quietly, I could barely hear her.

"And I'll never be yours."

And with that, she kissed me.

My stylist woke me up super early. I apparently needed to be transported to the arena. I didn't need to get dressed, as I'd just have to change when I got to the "Launch Room" as she called it. She took me up to the roof where a giant floating..._thing _was waiting. I grabbed onto the ladder, and I was frozen in place. As I was lifted into the air I saw a woman in a white coat, holding a syringe.

"This is you tracker, Harry. Now, they can track where you are in the arena." She said.

She jabbed the syringe into my forearm, at pressed the plunger down. Let me just say, it's not pleasant. At all. I honestly don't remember much about the ride except, that I was super nervous. Once we were in the launch room, Tigris handed me the clothes for the arena, a dark red shirt and black pants, and a long jacket. After I was dressed, we sat there for a few minutes. She tried to get me to eat some of the food on the table, but I couldn't. If I ate anything now, it would probably make a reappearance before I even made it into the arena. Yeah, I was that nervous.

"One minute until launch," a voice announced.

"You'd better get over there," Tigris said, pointing at a metal plate in the floor.

I walked over. She nodded, so I stepped on. As soon as I stepped onto it a glass tube came down, sealing me off from the room. After the minute was up, the plate started to rise.

I looked around. I was one of the last tributes to get up there. Ginny was a few tributes from my right. She smiled a little. Once the last tributes were up, someone said, "Ladies and Gentlemen, let the Seventy-Fourth Hunger Games begin! And may the odds be ever in your favor!"

Sixty seconds until the gong rings. Sixty seconds to decide whether or not to run. Sixty seconds until you can face your death. I glanced up at Ginny. Her eyes were fixed on a bow at the mouth of the cornucopia. She was going to run for it, I just knew it. There was a sword not too far from me.

The gong went off, and I ran. I grabbed the sword and turned toward the first tribute. I slashed and stabbed, but never really killed them. I wasn't a killer; I just wounded them enough to stop. Ginny had vanished. I hesitated a moment too long. A knife hit my arm just as I turned. If I'd stayed turned away for one more second, I would've been dead. I pulled out the knife and ran. Blood was running down my side, but I couldn't stop.

When I was far enough away, I dropped down. I pulled off my jacket and looked at my arm. It was still bleeding, the wound was deep. And I didn't have any bandages or anything. Great. I used the knife to cut off part of my shirt. I tied it around my arm. Hopefully that would stop the bleeding.

The cannons went off. A lot had died. I counted the shots, 14. Only 18 left. Almost half gone, and it was only the first day. _I hope Ginny's okay,_ I thought right before everything went black.

Ginny

I was up long before Jovanni came in to get me. Even though I tried really hard to get some more sleep, I ended up just laying there. When I did end up actually getting out of bed, my first thought was, _Well, this is going to be a long day. _

So when Jovanni came into my room, I was pacing. And I'd been doing that for about half an hour. Apparently I was going to get there before Harry; I could hear him snoring in his room, as Jovanni led me up to the roof. A ladder dropped down and as I grabbed on, I was frozen in place.

When the ladder was up in the flying thing, a woman came in and jabbed me with a needle. It felt like fire was being injected in my arm. When she had disappeared back into another room, I was able to move off the ladder. And let's just say the ride was pretty much just awkward silence the whole way.

Once we were in the launch room, he went through the room, tapping on random places on the walls, until a panel opened up. He pulled out the clothes and tossed them to me. I dressed quickly, and then tried to eat as much of the food on the table as I could.

"One minute until launch." A voice said. Damn. It was too soon.

I walked over to the metal plate. A tube came down around me. I leaned on the side, suddenly feeling dizzy. I wished I'd gotten more sleep. My head went above the ground, and I was forced to stand up.

A large gold cornucopia sat in the middle of the ring of tributes. I was one of the first there. When I saw Harry come up, I smiled. Something reflected light inside the cornucopia. It was a bow. Oh God, it was tempting.

"Ladies and gentlemen, let the Seventy-Fourth Hunger Games begin!" someone announced.

We had sixty seconds until we could step off our plates. Step off before, and you'd be blown into tiny pieces. I gritted my teeth, getting ready to run. The gong went off. I ran. I could run faster than all of my brothers, and they were pretty fast, so I was confident. But, could I get out of there in time? Maybe not, but it was too late to back out. I was already at the mouth of the cornucopia. It turns out there were two bows and sets of arrows. I grabbed both quivers and slung them over my shoulder. I loaded an arrow and shot at the other tributes. I hit someone in the arm.

"Hey," someone said.

I turned and started to run. They grabbed the back of my shirt, and pulled me back around. A boy was only inches from my face.

"You're not going anywhere, you're joining us," he said.

I looked around at the people still here. Eight of the kids were from the Districts, and Malfoy and Pansy. Great. I was just drafted into a group that could possibly help me, or be the ones who end up stabbing me in the back—literally. The cannons went off. 14. 14 already dead and 18 left to go. I hoped Harry was okay. Another of those flying things appeared in the sky. A claw dropped down and it picked up the 14 bodies of the dead tributes, one at a time.

"What is that?" I asked quietly.

They laughed. "You don't know what a hovercraft is?"

"Um, now I do."

I spotted the boy from District 12, Peeta, sitting somewhat apart from the rest, bandaging his leg. When everyone else was talking, and not paying attention, I went over to him. He was having trouble putting the bandage on right. I leaned down next to him.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, glancing at the others.

"Where? Over here? Or in this alliance?"

"With the group, the careers, is what we call them back home."

"Why the careers?"

"Because they train before they get in the arena, even though they're not supposed to. They always show up able to wield swords and throw spears and stuff."

"Why are you here?"

"Don't tell them, but I'm just trying to save Katniss."

"At least you had a choice," I muttered.

"Why, you didn't?"

"Nope, the big one, that boy," I pointed to him. "he made me join. And I really didn't want to be killed the first day."

He didn't answer, but just kept trying to bandage his leg. His hands were shaking so much, I had to help him.

"Thanks," he muttered, as I tied the end of the bandage into a knot.

That was the start of a friendship I'd be hell-bent to break if I wanted to go home.

Peeta

When Portia woke me up, I almost hit her in the face, accidentally of course. But once I was up, and led to the roof, and in the hovercraft, we were almost silent. But when we were in the launch room, I finally said something.

"Well, I guess this is the last time you see me."

"Don't think like that," she said, handing me the clothes.

Once I was dressed and sitting on the couch next to her, I said "I'm just trying to save Katniss, and you know it."

She didn't say anything, but motioned for me to eat some of the food on the table. I was too nervous, but I sipped a little of the water until someone announced "One minute until launch" I got up and went over to the metal plate.

"Don't give up on yourself." She said quietly.

I wanted to tell her, "It's too late for that." But I didn't. The tube had closed around me, and I doubted she could hear me, anyway. The plate shot up surprisingly fast. I was one of the last tributes to get up there.

Claudius Templesmith, grand announcer of the Games, said "Ladies and gentlemen, let the Seventy-Fourth Hunger Games begin!"

Sixty seconds. That's all I had to make up my mind. Great. Do I go? Yes, I think I have to. I saw Katniss a few tributes over. Her eyes were fixed on me. I knew what she was thinking. She was thinking of running to the cornucopia. I shook my head. The gong went off.

And I ran in there. I grabbed a couple of knives and started slashing randomly at people. Except I ended up getting too close to a kid with a sword, so I got a nice long cut on my calf. I somehow managed to stay on my feet for a few minutes, until I'd lost so much blood my leg gave out.

I had about a second to react when the girl threw the knife at me. I tried to move away, but I was too slow, the knife hit my arm.

She was about to throw another one at me when I yelled, "Wait! I want to join you!"

She stopped and grabbed the arm of the boy near her. She said something to him and he nodded. She ran over and pulled me up by my shirt, and led me over to the cornucopia. She grabbed out a first-aid kit and tossed it at me.

I was no healer, like Katniss's mother, but I did an alright job on my arm. My leg, however, was a completely different story. I couldn't really get it to move, and trying to wrap it around and tie it with one good arm and one bad one, wasn't easy.

The cannons started going off. _1…2…3…_on until 14. Almost half gone already and we'd only been in the arena for a few hours. As the hovercraft appeared above us, and picked up the dead tributes' bodies, I realized I hadn't seen Katniss since the gong. I'd find out soon if she'd made it, when they project the dead tributes' images in the sky for the rest of us to see.

I glanced around at the rest of group sitting a bit away. The girl, Ginny, was there. Great, just my luck. She looked back, and after a minute she walked over to me.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, quickly glancing at the others to see if they'd realized she'd left.

"Where? Over here? Or in this alliance?"

"With the group, the careers, is what we call them back home."

"Why the careers?"

"Because they train before they get in the arena, even though they're not supposed to. They always show up able to wield swords and throw spears and stuff."

"Why are you here?"

"Don't tell them, but I'm just trying to save Katniss."

"At least you had a choice," She muttered.

"Why, you didn't?"

"Nope, the big one, that boy," She pointed to the boy from District 1, Cato I think. "he made me join. And I really didn't want to be killed the first day."

I didn't answer, but just kept trying to bandage my leg. My hands were shaking and I was just so frustrated with the thing, I was about to give up. She leaned over and grabbed the bandage from my hands.

"Thanks," I muttered, as she tied the end of the bandage into a knot.

I wish then I'd known how much trouble just _speaking _to her, would get me in.

**A/N: Yaaay, finally! I kept starting and then getting sidetracked. Wooo cliffhanger with Harry. Mwuahahaha!**


	8. The Careers

**A/N: From now on, I'll probably just do two POV's per chapter, unless I think it's too short. And even though Harry's is kind of short, I'll leave it with just their points of views. ;)**

Ginny

The alliance with the careers was tough after only a couple hours. As soon as it got dark, the boy, I found out his name was Cato, led us all into the dark to go after some other tributes.

When we were organizing our packs, they started some music, then showed the pictures of the dead tributes from Panem, followed by the Hogwarts anthem and tributes, which made everyone laugh. The anthem, I mean. Cedric Diggory, Hannah Abbott, and Michael Corner. Their pictures showed up along with the anthem. I was just relieved Harry wasn't on that list. And I was sure Peeta was relieved Katniss wasn't up there.

I glanced over at him. He was limping horribly and it didn't look like he could use his arm very well, but somehow he managed to keep up with us. Although he didn't seem like he could stand it much longer.

Silently, Cato pointed up at something in the sky. Smoke. Someone had started a fire, and apparently we were going after them. Of course. This just couldn't get any better.

When we got close, Cato pushed me up front. I was afraid I'd done something wrong and he was going to stab me, which I wouldn't put past him, but he was just pushing me up front because I had my bow.

When we were only a few feet away, he told me to shoot. I really didn't want to, but I didn't have a choice. I hit the back of their neck. When we got there she was just barely alive somehow, clutching at her neck, trying to stop the bleeding. Even when she went completely still the cannon didn't fire.

Cato and a few of the others started arguing about who got to kill her. To my surprise Peeta volunteered.

"I'll do it," he said, grabbing his knife from his belt.

The trees rustled behind us. I whipped around, but there was nothing there. Then, there was a really nasty sound as he stabbed her again, then the cannon. We continued on, combing the woods for several hours until it started get light again.

Cato stopped suddenly and said, "Did you guys hear that?"

Something moved in the trees. Suddenly a girl's face appeared. Katniss.

"Hello, nice weather this morning hm?"

"Yeah, it is." The boy from District 1 said.

"You should come up here, the air is so much cooler."

"I think I will."

He walked over to the tree and started climbing. Except when he got about 8 or 9 feet up, the branch cracked and he fell. I was hoping he'd broken his neck or something, but no, of course not. Somehow he was unharmed, and he got up looking embarrassed.

Cato turned to me. "You, go up there."

Great. I glanced quickly at Peeta. He looked like he was about to pass out. I put my bow over my shoulder and climbed up. I stopped when the branches started to crack under me. _Okay, if I can just get away with shooting down instead of up…_ I put an arrow on the string, but instead of turning it up toward Katniss, who was still a good 20 feet above me, I turned it down toward the careers.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" Cato shouted at me.

I let go of the arrow, and it flew into his hand, as he threw his arms over his head. Damn. I'd hardly hit anybody while I'd been in the arena. Their reflexes were much faster than I thought.

He pulled the arrow out and just stood there for a moment, glaring at me. He dropped it on the ground, and snapped it with his foot. He looked ready to kill someone. And it would probably be me.

"What are you doing?" someone hissed right behind me.

I almost fell off the branch, but Katniss grabbed my shoulder. "I'm getting away from them, what are you doing in a tree?"

She narrowed her eyes. "I suppose you wouldn't know, being with the careers, and all."

"Look, I was _forced _to join. Like I seriously wanted to be in a group with some back-stabbing kids that wouldn't hesitate to actually stab me in the back!"

"I would push you out of this tree, except you have something I want."

"What could I possibly have that you want?" I scoffed.

"You have two quivers. You must have two bows."

Maybe I shouldn't have said this…ah well. "I have a collapsible one in my pack."

"Let me have it."

I hesitated before opening my pack and pulling it out. She snapped it into place and aimed right for Pansy. I have to admit Pansy slaw. Like, super slow. The arrow hit her right in her forehead. She was gone before anyone could even say something.

"Nice," I said.

"Thanks."

Harry

When I woke up, there was a little girl standing over me. Yeah, weird.

"Uh…hi?" I said.

"Hi," she said quietly.

"So, uh, what are you doing here?"

"Oh, I saw you just lying on the ground. You were bleeding, so I helped you."

I was seriously considering telling her it would've been easier if she'd just let me die, but did I? No, of course not. "Well, uh, thanks."

She smiled. "I'm Rue."

"Harry."

"Here," she said, handing me some nuts.

"Thanks." I sat up.

We ate a bit of the nuts she had in her backpack. Then I actually tried to get a rabbit or something. It would be a hard adjustment, but if it kept me alive, even just for a while, it would be worth it. Amazingly, after about an hour, I managed to hit a rabbit with my knife.

After a bit of trial and error, I managed to skin the thing. Turns out, Rue was great at starting fires. If I went out on my own, I would've been screwed, I couldn't start a fire if my life depended on it. Which it kind of did.

Once we'd eaten some of the rabbit, we set off for who knows where, trying to find a safer place.

"So, um, what's that in your pocket?" Rue asked so quietly, I could just barely hear her.

Oh damn, how do I explain that? I pulled out the snitch. "It's my, uh, my token. It's from a game we play at home."

"Oh."

I admit, I was never good with people younger than me, but I was really trying hard to get long with Rue. "So, do you have a token from home?"

She pulled a necklace of straw out from under her shirt collar. "My mother gave this to me when she said goodbye."

And of course, I'm not one to skip over touchy subjects. "You don't think you're going back, do you?"

She looked like she was going to cry. I tried to back-track. "Look, I-I'm sorry—"

"It-it's okay. Yeah, I didn't think I'd be the one going back home. Especially not with this many kids."

Over the walk I learned she had 5 younger siblings, and at home she worked with the rest of her district in the orchards. She worked up high in the trees, and was usually the first to see the flag that signaled the end of the day. She taught me a four-note whistle that she used to tell the other workers they could go home. It was quite an accomplishment, teaching me that, since I'm very bad at whistling.

And then we heard another tribute crashing through the woods.


	9. The Tracker Jackers

**A/N: Oh my gosh all the reviews. 3 Thank you so much :) Sorry this chapter took so long I kept getting writer's block on Peeta's POV**

Peeta

Betrayed. Completely betrayed. That's how I felt when Ginny shot at Cato. Although I was glad she hadn't shot at Katniss, but still. How I'd ever get out of this alliance alive without her, I didn't know. When I thought about it, I might not have even gotten away when she was there.

I could barely stand any more. The cut on my leg was bleeding again, and everything had started spinning. "Why don't we just stay here for the night? They're not going anywhere." I suggested. Although what I really meant was "I can't walk an inch, let alone back to the lake."

After a minute Cato agreed, though very reluctantly. I grabbed the first aid kit from my pack, and desperately tried to stop the bleeding. After about probably twenty minutes, all of us-except the girl Glimmer, who was on watch, leaning up against the tree- were trying to sleep. Even though the sun was coming up already, it was freezing.

I somehow managed to sleep despite being freezing and my leg hurting so much But of course I was light sleeper, and I woke up every time the leaves rustled. I could hear Katniss and Ginny whispering, but I couldn't make out any of the words.

I could hear a scraping noise, like someone was cutting something. Katniss was sitting silently on the branch, maybe she was asleep. The cutting noise continued on. Nobody else seemed to hear it. I looked over at Glimmer and, of course, she had fallen asleep.

I heard a snap, and something falling. Katniss had gone, and in that split second it took to look for her the branch hit the ground and the nest split open. Glimmer screamed. I pushed myself to my feet. There was a sting on my neck, my knee, and another on my shoulder.

We ran for the lake. I was just glad I didn't trip. We got about halfway back to the lake when Cato decided the Tracker Jackers were less important than the weapons we had left behind when we ran away. So of course, we had to turn back. He could be an ass sometimes—strike that; he was an ass ALL the time.

I was the first to get back there. Katniss was holding Ginny up, trying to guide her away from the clearing. She stumbled. I ran over ignoring the pain in my leg, and just kind of pushed them a little faster.

"HEY," I heard Cato yell behind me.

Hearing him made Katniss jump and run, pretty much dragging Ginny.

He started to run after them but I grabbed his arm. "It's not worth it." I said.

"They're not worth it? Ya know what I think? I think _you're _not worth it!"

He pulled his sword out of his belt and slashed at me. I jumped back just in time. He slashed again, and that time I wasn't so fast. I could feel the sword connecting with my bone. It was like an electric current running through my leg. The Tracker Jacker venom caused everything to turn crazy colors as I fell to the ground.

"Take that Lover Boy," he snarled, putting his sword back in his belt. "I think I'll just let nature take its course." He walked away.

It took me a long time to even get up the courage to look at my leg. The blood was already starting to seep out more slowly. But if I didn't do anything I'd probably get an infection and die. But I couldn't move my leg, and the Tracker Jacker venom made thinking nearly impossible.

I had nowhere to run, and if Cato thought I was as good as dead, I probably was.

Katniss

When I saw Peeta, my heart stopped. Yeah, _sure_ he loved me. That's why he joined the careers I'm sure. I was actually aiming for Cato when I accidentally shot that girl. Let me just say, shooting an arrow with burned hands is not easy.

"What the hell are you doing up in a tree anyway?" Ginny whispered.

"It's probably one of the safest places in the arena." I responded.

She was silent for a minute. "He really loves you, you know." The words were so quiet I almost didn't hear them.

"Yeah, sure."

"He told me. He's only with them to protect you."

I didn't respond. Mainly because I didn't believe it. How could this girl, who he barely even knows, have such faith in what he says? I owe my life to him, yet I don't trust him. Or do I? No. No I don't.

"What was that?" she hissed.

I listened. The slight buzzing was like the fence back home, but it had a different quality to it. Tracker Jackers. I knew the sound from the times Gale and I had run across them in the woods, but we had always turned around and got away as soon as we could. But what could we do now? Nothing, that's what. We were trapped in this tree. They were sitting down there, just waiting for us to come down so they can run us through with their spears and swords.

"Tracker Jackers," I said. When she looked confused I explained, "They're like wasps, except if you disturb them they track you down and sting you. The venom causes horrible hallucinations, and if you're stung enough you can die."

"Oh God," she muttered. "What can we do?"

"Maybe nothing. I mean, we can't get away with them down there."

"I have an idea."

I was hesitant. But after all, I'd probably be killed no matter what I did. "What?"

"Cut the branch, push it down on them. Hopefully it'll at least distract them and make them go back to the lake and take care of their stings before coming back."

"Fine. You go, but give me the quivers. Just in case."

She handed them over, then pulled a knife out of her pack and strapped it to her belt. She climbed like a squirrel up to the nest. She glanced down quickly then began sawing at the branch.

The light was making it easier to se, but that also meant they'd be waking up soon. She was already half way through the branch. Man, she was fast. After what I guessed to be about a half an hour she had sawed through the branch.

She tried to push it away from her as it started falling, but the branches in front of it stopped it. As it fell I saw several Tracker Jackers drift out, then seeing Ginny, they sped up, nailing her in the neck, arms, face. Almost immediately she fell. I reached out and just barely managed to grab her hand and pull her up on the branch next to me.

The stings were starting to swell up. I managed to pull out the stingers. Only then did I look down to see the rest of them already gone, but three were still on the ground. One was running past our tree farther into the woods, one was motionless on the ground—I suspected they were dead or almost, and the other was writhing on the ground. The cannon fired, then again. The one was still wiggling on the ground, so I guessed it had been the other two's cannons.

The hovercraft appeared, then dipped down to get the tribute that'd ran into the woods, then again to get the one that had been by the tree. The cannon fired again and the hovercraft simply moved over and picked up the other one.

Somehow I managed to gently lower Ginny down from branch to branch, then to the ground. I picked her up and was practically dragging her away from the little clearing. I felt a hand pushing me forward. I turned to see Peeta. He was limping badly and he had a sting on his neck, but he didn't seem to be too affected my the venom, well not yet at least.

"HEY," I heard Cato yell behind us. I jumped and ran as fast as I could, keeping a tight grip on Ginny's arm.

I went as fast as I could. If I was right, Cato would just come after us, even if Peeta was trying to stop him. Peeta! He had just saved my life. Again. Ugh, I don't think I'll ever stop owing that boy. But odds are at least one of us is going to be dead at the end of the Games.

As I broke through the trees into another small clearing, I tripped over a tree root and went sprawling. At least the ground was soft, so I wasn't hurt, and neither was Ginny.

"Ginny?" a boy's voice gasped.

"Katniss?" a girl asked.

**A/N: Mwuahaha! I don't know why, but I actually like leaving cliff-hangers. xD **


	10. The Lion Muttation

**A/N: Happy Hunger Games everyone! After waiting so long the movie is finally out! YES! Haha.**

Harry

"Ginny?" I gasped.

There were small purple lumps all over her body. I leaned down and pulled her out of the forest.

"Thanks for the help," Katniss grumbled, pushing herself up.

I rolled my eyes. "What happened?" I asked.

"Ginny was with the careers, she got away but we were trapped in a tree. She cut down a Tracker Jacker nest to land on them, but she got stung."

I had no idea who the careers were, or what Tracker Jackers were, but at the moment I didn't care. Ginny was breathing, but just barely. I glanced over at Rue who had her eyes closed, her fingers twitching.

"I know!" she said. She ran off into the forest.

"Do you even know what you're doing?" Katniss asked. Actually, I didn't. And she could see it. "Ugh. Move over."

I scooted back. Katniss's hands were moving so fast I don't know what she did. Or maybe it wasn't her hands, just my brain playing tricks on me. After a minute Rue reappeared.

She had a bunch of leaves in her hands. "I remember these. We use them back home if we get stung." She stuffed some in her mouth and started chewing them. "I wish there was a different way to do this."

Her nose was scrunched up and she looked like it was the worst thing in the world. I couldn't help but laugh. Katniss glared at me.

I don't know what she had against me, but just because she hated me didn't mean she wouldn't help Ginny…right? Well I think she already proved that. She could've just left her there and let her die, but no. She saved her. But why?

I focused back on Ginny. Rue was putting the leaves on Ginny's stings. Ginny moaned and her fingers twitched a little bit. Well, that was a good sign anyway.

Katniss got up and walked away. I don't really know why I got up and followed her, but I did.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"What the hell is your problem?"

"My problem? Ha!"

"Look, I'm glad you saved Ginny, but why do you hate me so much? I've never even _met _you for God's sake!"

"I'm just trying to get through this as fast as possible. I need to go home to my sister and my mother."

"Good luck. Odds are that none of us in this alliance are going home!" The words just spilled out of my mouth. Did I really believe that? Yeah, I guess I kind of do.

"Oh so now we're in an alliance?"

"If you don't like it, you can leave! I don't really give a damn."

I turned around and walked away. Rue was still sitting next to Ginny. When I walked back she looked up at me. She looked down again though, so I guess she'd heard us. Although it was kind of hard not to.

I half expected Katniss to just disappear without a word, but she actually came back.

"We have to go somewhere safer," she said.

We all agreed, and in the end we just went into the forest. Katniss walked so quietly it was creepy. After a while she said, "Let's stop here." My arms were killing me from having to carry Ginny so far, but since she couldn't walk—okay, she wasn't even conscious—I ended up doing it, and we'd been walking for hours.

"What are we gonna do for food?" Rue asked. "I don't have much of my nuts left, but I can find more."

Katniss was sweet to her at least. "You can get some more nuts, I'm going to take the bow and get something."

As they walked off, I sighed. If I'd known I'd be treated like dirt, would I have even stayed? I looked at Ginny. Yeah. I think I would've. Even if it was just for Ginny.

"Mmm Harry?" Ginny said it so quietly I barely heard.

I leaned down. Her eyes were open just a bit. She smiled a little and put her hand on my cheek.

A girl screamed and a cannon fired.

Ginny

Harry jumped up as the cannon fired. He looked at me, then away, then back at me, as if deciding whether or not to go help. Oh Harry, always the hero.

"Go," I managed to choke out.

"You sure?" he asked.

"Go," I repeated.

He grabbed his sword and ran. I tried to follow him, even though I knew it was probably one of the stupidest things I could've done. Somehow I managed to get to my feet. I grabbed onto a tree to keep myself from falling. Making my way from tree to tree, I tried to find Harry.

I could hear him calling for Katniss and Rue. I wondered where they went. There was a roar. Literally a roar, like a lion. The symbol of Gryffindor. A girl screamed again, only it seemed higher pitched, like…oh God. Like a little girl…Rue.

"Harry," I called out. No matter what I couldn't let him go near that thing, whatever it was.

I kept walking for minute, until I tripped over a tree root. Harry simply appeared at my side. He helped me up.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I-I just…" I didn't really know what I was doing. But I blurted out, "Rue's in trouble."

"What?"

"I-I think I heard her scream."

"That was her?"

"I don't know." My head was spinning but I still followed Harry as he tried to find Rue.

When we got to her, her back was against a tree, and the animal was right there in front of her. How to explain the animal…well, it was kind of like a cross between a lion, except it had wings, and it's tail was covered in spikes.

Katniss was nowhere to be seen.

"Harry!" Rue yelled, turning to see us standing there.

And it seemed as though we both did the stupidest things that day, he charged it. He slashed and stabbed with his sword so fast, sometimes his arms were just blurs—although maybe it was just my brain being slow.

Suddenly an arrow was sprouting out of the animal's side. It turned toward Katniss. It started to run at her, but as it turned it's tail hit Rue. I managed to run over to her. But I didn't have anything! What could I possibly do?

A couple of the spikes were stuck in her skin. I was afraid to remove them, though. The areas around the spikes were turning green. Poison. Great.

"Ginny?" Rue asked, her eyes focused on something behind me.

"Yeah." I said.

She said something so quietly I had to put my ear up next to her mouth. "..has to try to win." Was all I caught.

"Who? Who has to try to win?"

"H-Harry. Harry has to win," she whispered.

"He will," I promised. I'd always planned on him winning, even if it meant I'd die, but if Rue wanted it too, I was even more hell-bent on making it real.

Her eyes drifted out of focus and I knew there was nothing anyone could do for her. Her cannon went off. I turned around and saw Harry and Katniss still fighting the animal. I ran over to Katniss. She saw me and pulled off the extra arrows and bow. Once we ended up hitting in the mouth several times, it finally stopped, blood covering its face. It snarled one last time and turned and ran.

Katniss smiled. "We make a good team."

I shrugged. "Guess so." Even though I still saw everything a little blurry from the Tracker Jacker venom.

Harry was stumbling toward us, his side covered in blood. He tripped and fell. I ran over to him. The bandage on his arm was soaked with blood. Katniss leaned down next to me.

"Do you have any more bandages?" she asked.

I shook my head. "Not with me."

"We have to hurry and stop the bleeding or else he'll die."

**A/N: Aww poor Rue. Please don't hate me for having her die. Dx But I know where this is going and she had to die. :C **


	11. The Stop in the Woods

Katniss

We practically had to drag Harry back to the supplies. Every minute that passed he was getting paler. I admit, I didn't like him, but he almost died helping us. A couple of times I would've been dead if he hadn't stabbed it from the other side. So I guessed I owed him, too.

I wasn't my mother, but I think I did an okay job bandaging him up. Pretty much as soon as we got Harry down, Ginny passed out too. Attacking a mutt and then dragging your boyfriend isn't too easy by itself, but after that many Tracker Jacker stings…with all that exertion it could be deadly. But she seemed to be doing alright, sleeping on her jacket spread on the ground under her.

I was tired, but I didn't want to sleep, just in case the careers were out combing the woods again, even if they have the stings. I was actually considering leaving, but if we didn't get something for Harry I knew he would die. Sure, I didn't like him, but I wasn't that cruel.

Let me just explain why I didn't like him. He had obviously never been in danger of starving to death. He had never had to endure the Reaping before, having to desperately hope he wasn't chosen. Basically, I didn't like him because he'd had a good, secure life without worrying if you were going to make it to the next year. I at least liked Ginny because she was strong, like she wouldn't hesitate to take out all the careers single-handedly if she had to.

The anthem started playing. The Capitol seal lit up the sky, then the images came. Glimmer, the girl from District 4, Foxface, Rue, then the Capitol seal was back, and the other anthem started. Both from Slytherin. That boy must've been one of the ones that got hit with Tracker Jackers.

"At least they're gone," Ginny's voice made me jump. "I never liked them."

I wasn't one to beat around the bush, so I said "He's going to die if he doesn't get medicine, you know."

And I instantly knew I'd said the wrong thing. She looked so depressed, like she could already see his tombstone. "I know."

"You can't give up on him. There's still hope."

She was silent for a minute before she said "You sleep I'll watch if you want."

"Thanks."

I don't know how I could possibly sleep, but I did. And the nightmares attacked. My father being blown to bits again, and again, and again, replaying that scene over and over.

When I woke up, Ginny was gone, and Harry was still unconscious. Ugh, we were risking so much staying out in the open like this, but it's not like I could drag Harry into a tree.

I grabbed my pack and walked around a bit, trying to find the stream I'd seen when I was dragging Ginny away from the careers. I knew it had to be around there somewhere. Aha!

I filled up my water bottle, then Ginny's—which I'd taken from her pack, and put in the iodine. I rinsed my face, trying to shake the nightmare from my mind.

When I got back to Harry, he was awake, but he didn't look much better. I pulled the bandage off his arm, and it didn't look good at all. It was definitely infected, the skin around turned a sickly green color. He was awfully pale, too. He'd be dead—and soon—if he didn't get medicine.

Ginny appeared in a moment, with a couple of squirrels in her hands. She smiled, like _I did pretty good don't you think? _I nodded. She put the squirrels down on top of her jacket and knelt down next to Harry. I backed away to clean the squirrels, so they could be alone if they wanted to.

I admit, I eavesdropped. Kind of hard not to when you're only five feet away.

"God, Harry. You have to stop being such a bloody hero." Ginny said. Interesting use of the word _bloody _considering where we are.

"I know, I'm an idiot."

"Yes, quite."

And then it was silent, so I was wondered if they kissed. Even though it was none of my business. By that time I'd finished cleaning the squirrels, so I got up and gathered some wood for a fire.

"He isn't any better is he?" Ginny asked, silently walking up to my side.

"No, he's worse."

She sighed.

Peeta

Somehow I managed to drag myself away into the forest. There was a small stream just a few feet away. I just had to actually get myself over there somehow. My arms were killing me and I could barely keep my eyes open. But I managed. I splashed water on my leg, and cut off some of the fabric from my pants to tie around it. Everything was spinning, and everything went dark.

When I woke up again, my first thought was _Well, I'm not dead. _And I was grateful. Although I couldn't move very much without sending another wave of pain, I had to stay as still as I could. I pulled off my backpack and pulled out the strips of beef and the dried fruit. Man, dragging yourself through the forest sure makes you hungry.

Once I'd eaten a few strips of beef and pieces of dried fruit, I set about concealing myself. I scooped up some mud from the riverbank and started rubbing all over me, until I could hardly see myself. I laid back in the mud and just laid there. Waiting, Expecting to die.

**Sorry Peeta's is super short. I really had no idea how to make it longer. xD Next one will be much longer, I promise. **


	12. The Victors

**A/N: I have new fanfic! I'd appreciate it if you could read what I have so far, and tell me what you think. :)**

Ginny

So, basically, Harry was such a bloody hero, he almost got himself killed—again. How was I supposed to keep him alive at this rate? He'd be dead by tomorrow, without any medicine.

Suddenly, trumpets blared. "At dawn tomorrow, there will be a feast at the cornucopia. Now hold on. Some of you may be declining my invitation. But this is no ordinary feast. Each of you needs something desperately. Each of you will find that something in a backpack marked with your district number, at the Cornucopia, at dawn. Think hard about refusing to show up. For some of you, this will be your last chance."

He paused a moment before he continued, and this announcement surprised me more than the other. "There has also been a rule change." Katniss gasped. "Two tributes may live, if they are from the same district or house." He repeated it, as if we didn't get it.

"Peeta!" Katniss said. She clapped her hands over her mouth as if she'd done something bad.

She looked panicked. She kept glancing over her shoulder. "Ginny, I…" She didn't want to say it. But I knew. She wanted—no she _needed _to find him.

I nodded. "Go." She hesitated, and I repeated it. She grabbed her pack, tossed me my stuff she'd had in it, and she took off.

That was when it finally registered. We could both live. Harry and I could both make it out alive! It must've dawned on him, too. He smiled so wide again, it looked like his mouth was going to fall off if he smiled any wider. I could've jumped up and down I was so happy.

I could only imagine Ron and Hermione, celebrating back home. Maybe things would be alright, just like they promised! But there were still 10 other tributes.

"Who's left again?" I asked him.

"Uh, Katniss, Peeta, you, me, Cho, the kid from 10, the kid from 3, uhh…"

"And the boy from one," I added. "And both of them from two, and the boy from eleven. Wait, there's still one more. That's only 11 there's 12." But neither of us could remember the name.

A cannon went off. I wondered who it was. Surely it couldn't be Katniss or Peeta? Although, who knows where Peeta could be, and in what condition. And the feast! I had to go. Harry needed medicine and that was probably what was in there. That was what he needed desperately.

He must've known what I was going to. Although, how could he not? "No. You can't."

"Harry, don't be stupid. If I don't go you're going to die!"

"You'll get yourself killed!" he was almost yelling.

"You're winning this thing no matter what." I said, angrily. "I promised Rue, and I always knew it would be you."

"You really promised her that?" he asked, suddenly calm.

"Yeah."

I remembered that Katniss had never finished making the fire. I gathered up the rest of the wood, and grabbed the pack of matches from my pack. I cooked the squirrels, we ate, and then just sat there for a while.

"I'm going," I said.

"What? You're going to the feast?"

"We already talked about this! I'm saving your life! Now shut up."

"I'm going with you."

"Uh, no. You aren't."

He started getting up. I pushed him down. "Stop it or I'll knock you out."

He knew I was serious, so he stayed down. I grabbed my bow and pack and walked away. It was early, but it would take forever. It was almost dawn when I got there. I stopped a few feet from the clearing.

I could see someone in the trees not too far from me. There was something long and shiny in their hands. A bow. So Katniss had come, too. I wondered if she'd found Peeta.

The ground in front of the cornucopia shook, and opened up, a table rising up. Katniss ran immediately. She was almost back to the forest when someone ran out and tackled her to the ground.

I recognized the boy from one. I would've helped her, except if I didn't get my backpack next, it would probably be taken by someone else. I ran as fast as I could. I put it on my arm, and was just running to help Katniss when someone else kicked the boy off. He landed on his back with a sickening crunch. The cannon fired.

"She's mine!" I could hear them say. It was definitely a girl.

Katniss had started to run away, but the girl grabbed one of the straps of her pack. She pushed Katniss back to the ground, and they were rolling around on the ground, trying to kill each other with the knife the girl was holding.

A boy ran out from the other side of the cornucopia. He ran straight for the girl. He picked her up as easily as if she was just a tiny doll.

"You say her name. You kill her?" He asked. "You kill the little girl?"

"What? No! No!" she shrieked.

He grabbed a rock and smashed it into her temple. Her cannon fired before she hit the ground. The boy said something to Katniss, then turned and ran, grabbing the backpacks marked 1, 2 and 11. Man, he hit the motherload.

Katniss got up and ran. Until she had left, I hadn't realized how much I was shaking. I shook my head to concentrate, then turned and ran.

As I got back into the forest I heard a boy yell "Clove? Clove!"

I didn't stop until I reached Harry, though I nearly passed out before I could even slide the backpack from my arm. I dropped it onto his lap, and sat down next to him. I started to open the backpack when he pushed my hands away.

"I'll do it," he said. He looked even more pale than before. I was glad I'd gone.

"I'm glad you're still alive," he said.

"Yeah, me too."

"I heard the cannons. Who were they?"

"A girl and a boy. I'm not sure which district."

He was silent. He rubbed the medicine in and around the cut, the re-wrapped it in a clean bandage. He was going to be alright, I just knew it. And there were only 7 of us left.

Katniss had told me they interviewed our families and friends back home when there were only 8 tributes left.

"You should sleep," Harry said.

There was no way I could argue with him when I was so tired. So I laid down and went to sleep.

Harry

Don't get me wrong, I was glad she'd saved me—again. But I didn't like the idea of her risking her life for me.

I liked watching her sleep. She looked much more peaceful. Nothing much happened except my arm seemed to be getting better already. Once she woke up, she went back out to get some more squirrels or something.

"The water is going down," she announced, handing me the bottle. I drank a little bit, then handed it back.

"What? Why would that be—" then it hit me.

Rue had told me sometimes they would drive the tributes together, for a better fight. And now they were driving us all down to the lake. And how Ginny described it, we didn't have much time until the stream was completely dry. We might not even have 24 hours.

And I was right. By the next morning, the stream was bone dry. And we were almost out of water. We had no choice but to go to the lake. I was cursing the people who'd made the game—Gamemakers as Rue had called them—and the Ministry. They'd forced into these stupid games, and getting so many students killed because of it.

We were almost at the cornucopia when a cannon fired. Then another. Then growling.

"Oh damn," Ginny said. "RUN!"

We ran as fast as we could to get to the cornucopia. Katniss and Peeta were there, along with another boy. They were climbing up the cornucopia, trying to get away from the wolf-things. Ginny and I were barely reaching it, the wolves right on our heels. Ginny pulled herself up easily, then reached down and helped me up.

Then I got my first real glimpse at the wolves. They looked normal except for their claws—which were razor sharp, and their eyes…oh God the eyes! They looked so human, it was scary. The smallest one caught my eye. Its dark brown fur and eyes, and around its neck was a collar made of—what was that? Straw? With a number 11 on it. 11…straw…Rue! Whoa, were those their actual eyes? Weird.

They were growling and trying to climb up to get us, but they couldn't get their claws to grab onto the hot metal. Ginny and Katniss were shooting arrows at some of them, but nothing happened to them. Maybe they were indestructible. Maybe there wouldn't be a victor this year at all, if all of us are trapped up here with hardly any food or water.

Without warning, the boy grabbed Peeta and pulled him up to the edge. Katniss gasped. She pointed her bow at him.

"Go ahead, shoot me. We'll both die."

She couldn't shoot him if it meant losing Peeta, too. For the first time I noticed his calf and thigh were bandaged, like he'd gotten into a really nasty fight. Slowly he lifted his hand and made an 'X' over the boy's hand.

Katniss realized what he meant, and she shot his hand. He let go of Peeta, and stumbled backward off the edge. Katniss lunged forward and grabbed Peeta's hand to keep him from falling.

He hit the ground, and the mutts attacked him. We could hear him yelling, then it faded into whimpering. They dragged him back inside the cornucopia, and we couldn't see him anymore.

"So…what happens now that we're the last ones?" Ginny asked quietly.

Oh yeah. Hadn't thought about that. We were the only ones left besides the boy. Great. We couldn't kill each other. We'd saved each other multiple times, and none of us could forget that.

Peeta looked like he was about to pass out. Katniss did some fancy medical thing (that I have absolutely no idea what it was), and used her last arrow to keep it tight. We decided to just wait it out until morning, then decide what to do.

I don't know about the rest of them, but I barely slept. The metal had turned ice cold. But when it started getting light again, Katniss crept over to the edge. She leaned down, with Peeta gripping her ankles. She had gotten her arrow out of the thing(yes, very descriptive, I know) and she shot inside. The cannon fired.

Great. Now we were officially the last ones. Now what?

"So...um…what're we supposed to do?" Ginny asked.

Katniss's eyes widened. She fumbled with a little pouch strapped to her belt. She managed to get it undone, then emptied it into her hand. Some kind of berries.

"It's one of us, or all of us," she said. I gotta say, I admire her nerve.

She poured a bit of the berries into our hands. "On the count of three, we eat these."

"Wait," I said. "What are these?"

"Nightlock," she explained. "One berry will kill you."

Wow. But I didn't protest.

"One." Should we? "Two." I guess so. "Three." No turning back now.

We all lifted the berries to our mouths. They had just gotten into my mouth when the trumpets blared.

"Stop! Stop! Ladies and Gentlemen! I am please to announce the victors of the Seventy-Fourth Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen, Peeta Mellark, Harry Potter, and Ginny Weasley!"

We spit out the berries and ran to the lake, to wash out our mouths. Thankfully, none of us had swallowed any. A hovercraft appeared overhead. This time four ladders dropped down.

We stepped on, and we were frozen in place until the ladders were up inside the hovercraft. Peeta collapsed immediately. People in white coats came and got him, and took into another small area, where a glass wall separated us. Katniss started pounding on the glass.

"Hey, Katniss, Katniss," Ginny tried to calm her down, but it didn't seem to work.

Another woman came out and injected some stuff into her arm, and she passed out. So Ginny and I were alone. We were fine, well, mostly, and we were safe. We were finally safe.

**A/N: WHOOOOO the Games are over! This is not the end though. I'm going to do probably one or two more chapters, and I'm actually planning on a sequel. :) **


	13. The Post Games Interview

**Olivia: Yeah I meant none. xD Thanks for pointing that out. And I never really mentioned Cho by her name but she was the one where it said, "A cannon went off. I wondered who it was." In chapter 12. **

**I also just realized I might have screwed up my counting of the tributes in the last chapter. I think there were only 6 when she said 7. xD I also might have forgotten one or two of the cannons…I'm not sure. My god my math is failing me today. xD But they _are_ dead. **

Katniss

When I woke up again, I was in a very white room. It hurt my eyes. I tried to sit up, but there was a restraint around my middle. The red-headed avox girl appeared with a tray.

"Are they okay?" I couldn't help asking.

She nodded. Well, this should be interesting. Four times the victors. Who knows what could happen next. She placed the tray on my lap, and walked away. I sighed. It was going to seem like forever until I could get out of here.

When the restraints were finally taken off, the first thing I did was change into clean clothes. I'd probably been in the same clothes the whole time, and it was not pleasant. As I was pulling on a shirt, I saw my hand. The scars from all those years of hunting had vanished. The scar on my forehead had disappeared, too.

I paced the room for a minute, waiting for a door to open up, I knew there had to be one. Finally, it opened and I walked out into the hallway. Haymitch was there, talking to a man with a long beard, long robes, and funny shaped glasses. They saw me and Haymitch came over to me.

"Who was that?" I frowned.

"The headmaster from Hogwarts."

"Where are Harry and Ginny?"

"Somewhere around here," he mumbled.

I rolled my eyes. "Where's Peeta?"

"They want to capture the reunion on television."

"Of course. I think I'd want to see that, too."

He eyed me warily. Probably thought I was lying. He sent me on my way to get ready for the interview tonight. Well, it was more of watching recaps of the Games, rather than interviewing.

Flavius, Venia, and Octavia were truly excited to see me. They hadn't thought I was coming back. But here I was.

I sat there quietly as they went on and on about not the deaths themselves, but what had been happening in their silly lives when someone died. Thankfully, Cinna came in and make hurried them out the door.

He hugged me. "I knew you could do it," he said.

"Thanks."

He pulled the dress out of its bag and slipped it over my head. I frowned. It was very frilly and…padded? Ugh.

"I was expecting something more sophisticated than this," it just kind of slipped out of my mouth. But it was true. The dress didn't even go down to my knees, and the yellow frills were all over the thing.

"Yes, but I think you've had enough fire for a while."

I didn't like that answer, but I was just happy I was actually alive to wear it.

The entrance had to be re-worked, since this year there were four tributes, and each set shared a mentor. So we were back on metal plates that would rise up when it was starting.

When it was almost time, Haymitch walked in, looking very uncomfortable in a black suit.

"How 'bout a hug for luck?" he said.

Okay, that was odd request from him. He pulled me close and whispered in my ear, "President Snow is mad. You've made him look like a fool. You better make damn sure it looks like you're in love with that boy, and you're very—I mean _very_—close with the other two."

"Do they know?"

"I don't know 'bout the others, but you do."

"Peeta?"

"He doesn't need to, he's already there."

I pulled away. "What do you mean?" He's in love with me?

"I'd better go." And he turned and walked away.

I sighed and stepped onto the metal plate. My knees were shaking horribly and I wished the dress was long enough to hide it. I could hear them introducing Cinna, Portia, and Haymitch. The audience went wild when Haymitch went up there. Then he announced people named Jovanni, Tigris, and Dumbledore, Harry and Ginny's stylists and mentor, I guess.

The plate started going up. As soon as our heads were above the stage, the crowd went crazy. As soon as our plates clicked into place, I ran over to Peeta. He stumbled, but managed to keep us both on our feet. He kissed me.

After a minute, Caeser tapped him on the shoulder. He pushed him away, and the crowd went absolutely berserk. I pulled away from him, and saw Harry trying not to laugh. There was one long couch set up this time, instead of a chair.

We sat on the couch. I looked at Haymitch. He looked at me like, _You can do better than that, Sweetheart. _I kicked off my sandals and put my feet up on the couch next to me.

Caeser greeted the audience, and then turned to us. "Well, it's great seeing you back here again."

"Bet you didn't plan on seeing _any _of us back here," Peeta said.

"No, I didn't. But what I want to know is, did you?"

He laughed. "No, I didn't."

Ugh, speaking just came so naturally to him. I wish I could do that.

He was asking Ginny and Harry questions, and then he turned to me. "Katniss, I think the question on everyone's mind is what were you thinking when you pulled out those berries?"

What had I been thinking? Well… "I just…I knew that I couldn't go home without Peeta there, and I got so close to Ginny and Harry it would be absolutely awful if they couldn't make it home to their families, too."

Okay, I think that was good. It was the best I could come up with, anyway. And it wasn't exactly a lie…well not all of it.

Peeta smiled and wrapped his arm tighter around me. I glanced over and saw Harry and Ginny were sitting in somewhat the same way, except Ginny's feet weren't on the couch.

"And you?" he asked all of them.

They all nodded or said something along the lines of "Yeah, goes for me too."

And then, they started the recaps. It must've been hard to condense an entire Games into a couple of hours, but they did it. Normally, they told some kind of story. This year, they did somewhat of a love story. Well, not much because there was hardly anything to work with, but it was there.

I don't know how other victors watched this alone. Several times I hid my face in Peeta's shirt, so I wouldn't have to watch a certain death. Like Rue, or Thresh, or Cato. It was horrible to have gone through it once, but twice was torture. Although, the Games were based on torture.

Once it was over, Caeser reminded everyone of our final interview tomorrow. After that, we would go home, and the cameras would go away. But then there was the Victory Tour. Strategically placed halfway between Games, it was kind of like waving it in the faces of the people of the Districts—and this time Hogwarts, too.

After all the applause, we could finally leave the stage. We were back in our old rooms in the above the Training Center. When we got to our floor, we said goodbye to Harry Ginny and walked out. Haymitch and Cinna and Portia were there in a minute. They congratulated us, telling us how great we did.

I looked at Haymitch, like _Did I do okay? _He understood, and he nodded. I did just fine. I just hoped it was enough.

Peeta

When I woke up, I felt pretty bad. Someone came in almost immediately. He had on a white coat, so I assumed he was a doctor.

"Ah, Peeta, you're awake."

No duh, isn't that why you came in? "Yeah," I managed to say.

"I've got something very important to say, so just listen. We tried as best as we could to save your leg, but try as we might, we couldn't." I had lost my leg? What? I couldn't really feel anything, thanks to the medicine they'd given me. But, I guess, being alive with one leg was better than being dead, but still.

"But, if you want, you can have a prosthetic leg, from the knee down."

Well, it would make it easier to walk. I thought about it for a moment. "I'll take it," I told him.

So not long afterwards, they gave me more medicine—Morphling, they called it—and I assume that once I was out, they attached it or did whatever it took to put on a fake leg.

When I woke up again, I could just tell something was different, without even moving. I knew it leg, obviously, but it was strange. I could feel everything else normally, but that leg… I could move it alright, but I couldn't actually _feel _it. It's hard to describe, you'd have to have one to know exactly how it feels.

After a minute, the doctor came in. He smiled, looking extremely pleased. He told me to get up and walk around. Try it out. Ha. Easier said than done.

It was hard at first, even with the cane-like thing he gave me. I fell—a lot. But finally I managed to at least keep myself up. I was limping a bit, but I could walk.

The next day Haymitch came in, and sent me to the prep room. They were so happy, I think they were crying. Or maybe they weren't, it was hard to tell with the crazy stuff on their faces. After a while Portia came in. As soon as she saw how fed up with them I was, she practically pushed them out the door. Wouldn't want me to punch my prep team.

She smiled at me. "I knew you could it."

"_I _didn't. Katniss is the reason I'm alive."

"Shut up, and accept that you won. Now get dressed."

She handed the suit. Ugh, they were so uncomfortable. Once I was ready, she led me down to a small room below the stage. Once it was starting, we would be lifted up on metal plates, like in the arena.

After several minutes, I could hear the Cinna, Portia, and Haymitch being introduced. Then others who I guessed were Ginny and Harry's stylists and mentor. The plate started to rise. I gripped the can tighter. It would be awful if I fell onstage. I'd be forever known as the victor who tripped on his own leg—even it is prosthetic, and I can't walk very well, yet.

I saw Katniss, and I smiled. She ran over to me, throwing her arms around my neck. Amazingly, I managed to stop us from falling over. I didn't care if all of Panem—and Hogwarts—was watching, so I kissed her. It continued on for a minute. Caeser tapped on my shoulder. My automatic reaction: pushing him away. Katniss pulled back, and smiled.

We all sat down on the couch. After a moment, Katniss kicked off her sandals and tucked her feet up on the couch and put her head on my shoulder. Ah, this was the life, kissing Katniss and sitting so close to her for several hours.

Caeser greeted the audience, and then turned to us. "Well, it's great seeing you back here again."

"Bet you didn't plan on seeing _any _of us back here," I said. He had probably expected to be sitting here with one of the careers.

"No, I didn't. But what I want to know is, did you?"

I laughed. Honestly? "No, I didn't."

That made him laugh. He turned to Ginny and Harry. "How do you feel, being the first ever victors from Hogwarts?"

"Well, it's definitely strange. Because now they're all going to be staring at us."

"Yeah," Ginny agreed. "I was pretty much a nobody before, but I'm definitely not now!" It sounded like an obvious lie, but maybe that's just the way I heard it.

He looked at Katniss. "Katniss, I think the question on everyone's mind is what were you thinking when you pulled out those berries?"

She hesitated a minute. "I just…I knew that I couldn't go home without Peeta there, and I got so close to Ginny and Harry it would be absolutely awful if they couldn't make it home to their families, too."

Huh. Interesting.

I smiled and wrapped my arm tighter around her shoulders.

"And you?" he asked the rest of us.

We all nodded or said something like "Yeah, goes for me too."

Then they started the recaps. It was completely unfair making us go through it again. Although, some of the deaths we hadn't seen since we had been somewhere else in the arena. I cringed at certain parts, like it showed Cato cutting into my leg. Katniss kept putting her head in my shirt, trying to hide from the awful deaths. I couldn't blame her. I wished I could do the same.

I was glad when it got to the end. We could finally leave! But we still had the interview tomorrow, to deal with. But then we would go home to 12 and see our families again. We would live in our new homes in the Victors' Village. But then Haymitch would be our only neighbor. That should be fun…not.

Caeser reminded everyone about our final interview tomorrow, and then we left the stage. We got into the elevator. Once we got to the twelfth floor, Katniss and I said goodbye, then got out.

Haymitch, Cinna, and Portia came up to us. They congratulated us on how well we did. I was just glad it was over. I was ready to sleep. All that walking was exhausting.

**A/N: I think this is one of my longest ones! I think…xD It's 7 pages in word! :D Part 2 will be their final interview.**


	14. The Homecoming

**Primrose Angel Lupin: Yeah I am gonna do Catching Fire. :)**

**Bluedolphin12: Okay, I'll try, though I can't guarantee it'll be entirely the same as in the books.**

**Julia: True, but one of them could've also won. Yeah, they don't seem all that upset…maybe not the best thing that could've happened…xD Peeta figured it out? Ooooohhhh. I didn't even remember that. xD**

Harry

Finally! A real bed! It was a miracle! After being forced to relive the Games only a few days after I actually left them, the first thing I wanted to do was sleep in a real bed.

For some reason I was in the hospital when we got here. Sure, I had the cut on my arm, but it was pretty good even though I hadn't put much of the medicine on it, when we were in the arena.

As soon as I got into my room, I practically jumped onto the bed. I didn't even bother changing into something else. I just fell asleep in the stupid suit. When I woke up, it was already probably lunchtime. I wouldn't have been at all surprised if the prep team chose right then to walk in. Stupid interview. I just wanted to go home.

I just really wanted to go home, see Ron and Hermione. Tonight couldn't come fast enough, when we would take another Portkey back to Hogwarts.

I changed quickly and went out to get food. Ginny was sitting at the table, looking very uncomfortable. And then I saw Dumbledore was sitting across from her, no wonder she was uncomfortable!

"Harry!" she said. "Finally, it took you ages to get up!" What she really meant was "You left me alone with him for ages!"

"Sorry," I muttered.

I heaped my plate with food, and in only a few minutes I'd eaten almost all of it. Dumbledore just got up and left. He was being so unhelpful and distant, and it was just so unlike him. It was strange.

Just as I was finishing my food, our prep teams came in. They had horrible timing. I had hardly been able to talk to Ginny since we got out of the arena. And it seemed like I'd only be able to talk to her once we got home.

Once again we were taking to our separate rooms. There was apparently less for them to do, since they were finished pretty soon. Until I looked at the clock and realized it was already 4 o'clock. Well, that was less than yesterday, anyway.

I ended up in a suit with—surprise, surprise!—a gold and red tie. They just _had _to incorporate the colors didn't they? Ugh. Thankfully, this time we could just walk onto the stage instead of being on the platforms. I was glad; I really didn't want to have to go on a third one. The first two times were bad enough, thank you.

Tigris took me back up to the stage. She walked up to the front with the other stylists. After a minute Ginny walked up with her stylist. She smiled at me. As soon as her stylist walked up to join the others, Caeser Flickerman started calling out their names, and they walked forward. So, again, I wouldn't be able to talk to Ginny at all until we got home.

They were asking the most _ridiculous _questions, like our favorite colors were, and if we had any pets or anything. Stupid. And I kept getting the stupidest ones. Although, once he did ask me about my friends at home. So of course, I talked about Ron and Hermione. I could almost see Ron smiling and saying, "Bloody hell, he talked about me!" Yes, he finally got some attention along with the famous Harry Potter. Oi, now people had another reason to stare at me. Great.

He asked Ginny a question, but it was her answer that definitely stood out.

"I always had to have second-hand stuff, books, clothes, you name it. But now I can just have whatever I want and need and I don't have to worry about not being able to buy the stuff I need."

She sounded…kind of sad. I wondered if she'd _really _ever worried about not being able to buy books, and supplies, and robes, and other stuff she needs at Hogwarts, and at home too, probably.

He smiled sadly. "Well, you don't have to worry now."

Thankfully, the interview ended not long after. He wished us well, the cameras shut off, and we went back behind the stage again. Dumbledore appeared in a moment. The stylists had gone back to their own quarters for the night. Dumbledore steered us back toward our rooms, as if we would get lost! I kept wanting to push him away and say "We're not four years old! We know the way!" But then I might have gotten myself into more trouble than it was worth.

We quickly said goodbye to Katniss and Peeta as we passed them on the way to the elevator. They were also trying to hurry and change into regular clothes, so they could get to their train on time.

We got to our rooms pretty quickly. I grabbed the first clothes I saw in the drawer and put them on. I paced the hallway for a minute, waiting for Ginny to come out.

Her door opened, and she smiled at me. "Hi. Is Dumbledore out here?"

"Um…no."

"Good," she said. "He's being so annoying lately. I can't _stand _it!"

"Well, soon we'll be back at Hogwarts, so we won't have to see him all the time anymore."

"But then we're back to classes."

I groaned. "Ugh, don't remind me."

She laughed. Of course, Dumbledore chose to show up right then. He has like, the worst timing in the history of all wizards with bad timing.

He held out an old boot. I swear, some of the things used for Portkeys are just disgusting. Ginny and I reached out to grab hold of the boot.

"5…4…3…" Dumbledore counted down. I grabbed Ginny's although the only thing that could happen with that is I pull _her _down with me. "2…1…"

I hate Portkeys. It makes me feel sick for a while afterwards.

We were suddenly standing in the Great Hall. Some people cheered, others stood glaring. Odd. But right then, I didn't care. I was just happy to be back. It much more normal here…well, as normal as Hogwarts can be.

Ron and Hermione pushed their way through the crowd. Hermione threw her arms around me, and almost choked me, and Ron was hugging Ginny. I hadn't realized how much I missed them, until I got there. To tell the truth, I hadn't though much about them, with all that had been going on.

Ron and Hermione were practically dragging us up to Common Room. A couple times I almost stepped on the trick steps, because she was trying to pull me so fast.

Ron smiled as he said the password. "Celebratione." The Fat Lady smiled, and the portrait swung forward.

Everyone yelled something like "WOOOOO!" Except I could hear Fred and George say "OI! WELCOME BACK AND ALL THAT!" Ah, it was great to be back.

The End

**Whoaaaa it's over already! Whaaaat. Haha. I hope you guys enjoyed it. I'll try to get the sequel up as soon as I can. :) And this is amazing! My first finished fanfic! Except for my warriors one-shot but that doesn't count. xD**


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